Walking away as a functional reward follow up

I have to say, it's working brilliantly! Today also marks 7 weeks of prozac. Crazy how time flies! We had a huge wind storm last night and I didn't even notice until I went to bed (my desk sits on the quiet part of the house, my bedroom on the windiest).  He's gone back to hanging out at his chair, with sprinklings of Mommy snuggling. He also asks fairly a few nights a week for snuggles in my lap.. and not in a panicked "I need reassurance" way. He hangs out, I tell him out handsome he is and then I put him back down and he goes on his merry way.

As for the topic: the functional reward of walking away. He's also getting a primary reward (food) but I'd say in this getting to leave to social situation is probably the primary reward. He's done it with the dremel, with just me sitting on the floor (one of his signals it's training time and so one of the social situations that puts pressure on him) and with Arya present, either sitting next to me or actively working. For the working part, he hung back and didn't bother her and then I would ask for a hand touch (entering our space politely) and then throw the treat back. Repeat.

His relationship with Arya is changing dramatically too! One thing about Arya is she loves to kiss. People, dogs, she'd probably kiss a cat if one gave her a chance! I've noticed he's tolerating her kissing him a lot more and even seeking her out to "touch bases". I'd say for comfort but that doesn't quite describe it. He's also much more tolerant of her being in his body space. A huge issue since about 15 months of age.

I've caught them practically cuddling when I wake up and this morning he jumped up on to the bed on request right after her and laid right with her. He doesn't just tolerate her in his body space in an open area, he's letting her come up to him while he sits on his chair (see below) and kiss him.

So good news! In  a week the puppy will be home about this time.

Thank you, Leslie McDevitt

Every time I read a dog training book I have what's often described as a "light bulb moment". Probably self evident, but it's when you have an epiphany of sorts about something in your life. I've had them from other types of books, but due to the dog training books I choose to read from authors experienced in the challenges I face who train in a way similar to me, they happen most with them.

I picked up a copy of Leslie's Control Unleashed: The Puppy Program at Clicker Expo in January. I had store credit for volunteering and referring and needed to spend money. What a good choice this ended up being! Leslie deals a lot with performance dogs with various problems, not the least of which is anxiety. While the book is bent towards performance issues, I'm finding it has a lot of application for Mochi.

Last night I was reading a chapter where Leslie describes a dog who was scared to come out of it's crate. Leslie rewarded the dog for coming out by sending it back in with a treat thrown in the crate. The dog learned it could go back in it's safe space and *bad things would not happen*.

Premack: Premack's principle, or the relativity theory of reinforcement,^[1] states that more probable behaviors will reinforce less probable behaviors.


Leslie used what the dog wanted (being in it's safe spot) to reinforce working with a stranger and continued on, rewarding the dog after longer stints outside and eventually working with her. She talked a lot about social pressure and allowing dogs to escape it as a reward, which is the ah-ha moment: I can shape Mochi to do things by rewarding him away from me.


You see, I've always had this idea that I have to reward him closer to me to bring him in.. but Leslie is saying exactly the opposite. By allowing a dog to escape the pressure it feels, you encourage it to make the decision to turn on the pressure. Facing Mochi is pressure to him. When he was a puppy I had the "why doesn't he work with me even though I have treats?" complex and, though not using force, pressured him in situations that made him uncomfortable. 


That anxiety has bled into anxiety about training.


So we played a game today! I sat down and the instant he walked towards me I clicked threw a treat behind him. Repeat. At the end of the game he was turning and very quickly walking back to me, coming in close. We've been doing dremel desensitization and counter conditioning, so once he was coming into my personal bubble without hesitation, I put the dremel out. First I just clicked for walking towards it, still rewarding behind. 






By the end of 4 reps with the dremel, he was coming back to the dremel and nose touching it (one of the exercises we've been working on). Good boy!


I plan on later today repeating and then tomorrow I will ask him to come in while the dremel is turned on. I'm very happy with my revelation and thank you Leslie! I cannot say enough good things about her book, I highly recommend it.